Orders, Decorations, Medals and Militaria, to include the Brian Ritchie Collection (Part III)

The Indian Mutiny medal to Captain Alexander Skene, Political Agent at Jhansi where he perished along with the rest of the European men, women and children

Indian Mutiny 1857-59, 1 clasp, Central India (Captn. A. Skene) unit details erased, suspension claw repaired, otherwise very fine £2000-2500

This lot was sold as part of a special collection, The Brian Ritchie Collection of H.E.I.C. and British India Medals.

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Captain Alexander Skene, Political Agent in the small Maratha state of Jhansi, some 140 miles south-west of Agra, was not particularly perturbed when the news of the outbreak at Meerut reached him. Though he had only a small force of Indian soldiers and no Europeans, he felt reasonably secure. In 1857, the Rani of Jhansi was in her early thirties, the daughter of a retainer of Chimnaji Appa, the brother of Baji Rao, and had been born in Banaras, where Chimnaji had settled after his brother’s surrender to the British. On Chimnaji’s death in 1832, the girl’s father had taken his family to Bithur and the court of the exiled Peshwa. It was Baji Rao who suggested to the Raja of Jhansi that she would make a suitable wife for him and so it came to be. After the death of her husband, however, the state of Jhansi was annexed by the British, and the Rani was evacuated from the fort to live in the city palace.

When news of the outbreak at Meerut reached the Rani, she asked Captain Skene for permission to raise a body of armed men for her own protection. Skene approved, being convinced of her loyalty and, indeed, it is not known whether she was involved in conspiracy with the sepoys before they mutinied. Mutiny they did. There had been warning. On 1 June, some of the bungalows belonging to the British officers were set on fire. Captain Skene and the commander of the troops, Captain Dunlop, believed it was an accident and took no precautions. Two days later, some of the sepoys seized a small building known as the Star Fort, inside which were the treasury and the magazine. The rest of the men seemed still to be loyal, but next day Captain Dunlop and two other British officers were murdered. The remaining British and Eurasians took refuge in the fort inside the city and prepared to defend it. They numbered only fifty-five, including women and children, and only four of the men were soldiers or had had military experience. Next day, it was seen that the sepoys had brought up two guns. At this stage, Skene, for some reason never discovered, decided that he could not hold out and asked the sepoys for a safe conduct. It is possible that, as Skene had had no fear of mutiny, he had not sent ammunition or provisions into the fort, and therefore decided he could not put up a defence.

On 8 June, Skene received the assurances he needed. Through an emissary, a doctor named Saleh Muhammad, the sepoys swore ‘on the most sacred oaths’ that the party in the fort would be allowedto leave without interference after laying down their arms. The party marched out and was immediately taken prisoner and moved to a garden known as the Jokhan Bagh. There, the whole party was massacred - 30 men, 16 women, and 20 children. Contemporary accounts of the massacre vary in detail, reliable witnesses being few, if any. The particular circumstance of Skene’s death is referred to in a letter to a relative of Captain Gordon, the Deputy Commissioner, who was also killed:

‘It is all true about poor Frank Gordon. He, Alic Skene, his wife, and a few peons managed to get into a small round tower when the disturbance began; the children and all the rest were in other parts of the fort - altogether, sixty. Gordon had a regular battery of guns, also revolvers; and he and Skene picked off the rebels as fast as they could fire, Mrs Skene loading for them. The peons say they never missed once, and before it was all over they killed thirty-seven, besides many wounded. The rebels, after butchering all in the fort, brought ladders against the tower, and commenced swarming up. Frank Gordon was shot through the forehead, and killed at once. Skene then saw it was no use going on any more, so he kissed his wife, shot her, and then himself.’

A memorial exists at Cantonment Cemetery, Jhansi, to the memory of ‘Captain Alexander Skene, 68th Regt. B.N.I., Superintendant of Jhansie and Jaloun, Margaret Beatrice Herschel Skene, his Wife, and Mary Isabella Frances, and Beatrice Harriet Annie, their Children, all of whom fell by the hands of the Mutineers on the 8th of June 1857.’

Refs: Letters, Despatches and Other State Papers, Volume IV (Forrest); The Revolt in Central India 1857-59 (Intelligence Branch, Army H.Q., India); Annals of the Indian Rebellion 1857-58 (Chick); Red Year (Edwardes); The History of the Indian Mutiny (Ball).